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At least 13 Pakistani soldiers were killed and over two dozen injured, including civilians, in a deadly suicide bombing in the country’s restive northwestern region near the Afghan border, local sources confirmed on Saturday.

The attack took place in the Khadi Market area of Mir Ali, North Waziristan — a region known for frequent militant activities.

Security sources reported that the suicide bomber targeted a convoy of the 22 Frontier Force Regiment, detonating explosives near a bomb disposal unit vehicle.

According to initial counts, 24 others, including at least 14 civilians, sustained injuries in the blast. The injured were rushed to nearby military and civilian hospitals.

The incident marks one of the deadliest single-day attacks on Pakistani forces in recent months, underscoring the volatile security situation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

Although the Pakistan Army has not yet issued an official statement, a local militant group led by Hafiz Gulbahadur has reportedly claimed responsibility.

Following a recent surge in violence in Waziristan, Khyber, and Kurram districts, the Pakistan military has intensified intelligence-based operations throughout the region. Islamabad continues to accuse the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) of orchestrating attacks from across the border in Afghanistan—a claim strongly denied by Kabul.

Security across North Waziristan has since been tightened, with military checkpoints reinforced in anticipation of further attacks.

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An explosive-laden car rammed into a Pakistani military convoy on Saturday in a town near the Afghan border, killing at least 13 soldiers, sources said.

Four Pakistani intelligence officials and a senior local administrator told Reuters that the convoy was attacked in Mir Ali area of North Waziristan district.

Nearly 10 other soldiers were wounded, some critically, and they were being airlifted to a military hospital.

“It was huge, a big bang,” the local administrator said, adding that residents could see plumes of smoke billowing into the sky from far away.

One resident said that the explosion rattled the windowpanes of nearby houses and caused some roofs to collapse.

No one has claimed responsibility for the attack so far.

The Pakistani military did not respond to a Reuters request for a comment.

The lawless district, which sits next to Afghanistan, has long served as a safe haven for Islamist militant groups who operate on both sides of the border.

Islamabad says the militants run training camps in Afghanistan to launch attacks inside Pakistan, a charge Kabul denies, saying the militancy is Pakistan’s domestic issue.

The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, an umbrella group of several Islamist militant outfits also known as the Pakistani Taliban, has long been waging a war to overthrow the government in Islamabad and replace it with its own Islamic system of governance.

The Pakistani military, which has launched several offensives against these militant groups, has been their prime target for the most part.

At least 13 soldiers were killed when a suicide bomber rammed an explosive-laden car into a military convoy in northwestern Pakistan.

On June 28, officials in North Waziristan, a district in the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, said the bombing near the region’s Mir Ali town during a curfew injured 15 more soldiers. At least 14 civilians were wounded in the attack.

In Miran Shah, the regional headquarters, an official said the suicide bombing hit a military truck full of soldiers responsible for disposing of bombs and other explosives.

The Pakistani military said it killed 14 militants in an operation in the region that was launched following the attack. Details were not immediately available.

The army chief of staff, Field Marshal Asim Munir, said in a statement that any actions to undermine Pakistan’s internal stability would be met with decisive retribution.

Pakistan’s military blamed the incident on archrival India but did not provide evidence. India rejected the accusation.

Rahmatullah, a resident of Khadi village, the scene of the attack, told RFE/RL’s Radio Mashaal that the bombing happened at 6 a.m. local time. He said the powerful bomb injured many women and children and damaged civilian homes.

Ali Amin Gandapur, the chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, condemned the bombing.

Hafiz Gul Bahadur group, a local Pakistani Taliban faction in North Waziristan, claimed responsibility for the attack. The relatively small faction has claimed numerous deadly attacks in and around the rural town of Mir Ali in recent years.

The restive district of North Waziristan borders Afghanistan. It is one of the regions most affected by the return of the Pakistani Taliban.

The Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP) is the largest faction of the Pakistani Taliban. Thousands of its fighters have ramped up attacks on Pakistani security forces since the return to power of its allies, the Afghan Taliban, in neighboring Afghanistan in August 2021.

The TTP’s violence in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has overshadowed relations between erstwhile allies Pakistan and the Afghan Taliban.

Islamabad has repeatedly attacked alleged TTP hideouts inside Afghanistan and demanded that the Afghan Taliban rein in the group from its violent campaign against its security forces.

With reporting by Reuters

At least 13 soldiers were killed in a suicide attack in the northwest part of the country, an AFP report, quoting local government officials and police officials said on Saturday. The report also said that 29 people, including civilians, were injured in the attack.

“A suicide bomber rammed an explosive-laden vehicle into a military convoy. The blast killed 13 soldiers, injured 10 army personnel and 19 civilians,” said a local government official in North Waziristan district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Pakistan.

“The explosion also caused the roofs of two houses to collapse, injuring six children,” a police officer posted in the district told AFP. He said 16 soldiers were killed, raising a previous death toll of 13.

According to the report, the condition of four injured soldiers is critical, an administrative official said.

The attack was claimed by the suicide bomber wing of the Hafiz Gul Bahadur armed group, a faction of the Pakistan Taliban, the report added.

5 children injured in mortar shell explosion At least fourteen people including five children were injured on Saturday as a mortar shell fired from an undisclosed location hit a house in northwest Pakistan near the Afghan border, according to sources.

The mortar shell exploded in the house in the Kachhi Kamar village of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province’s Kurram district, partially damaging it, news agency PTI reported.

Among the 14 people injured were five children between the ages of 5-11, sources said. Residents of the village rescued the injured from the damaged house and shifted them to a hospital for treatment.

The local authorities have launched an investigation into the incident, the report added.

Past attacks in Pakistan Pakistan has witnessed a sharp rise in violence in its regions bordering Afghanistan since the Taliban returned to power in Kabul in 2021, with Islamabad accusing its western neighbour of allowing its soil to be used for attacks against Pakistan – a claim the Taliban denies.

Around 290 people, mostly security officials, have been killed in attacks since the start of the year by armed groups fighting the government in both Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, according to an AFP tally.

US Congressman Bill Huizenga warned on Friday that Afghanistan has again become a “safe haven for terrorist groups,” posing a growing threat to South and Central Asia and beyond, Khaama Press reported.

Speaking at a hearing titled “Assessing the Terrorist Threat Landscape in South and Central Asia and Exploring Opportunities for Cooperation”, Huizenga emphasised that the 2021 US withdrawal from Afghanistan significantly shifted the regional security balance. He blamed the Biden administration’s exit strategy for allowing terrorist networks to regroup under Taliban control, as reported by Khaama Press.

He specifically expressed concern over the growing activities of groups like ISIS-Khorasan and Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). Citing Pakistan’s recent surge in violence, he noted a rise in deadly attacks, including the recent assault in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam, which he saw as evidence of ongoing insurgency in the region, according to reports in Khama Press.

New Delhi: India on Saturday firmly rejected Pakistan Army’s allegations that sought to link New Delhi to the June 28 terror attack in Waziristan, calling the accusations as “baseless” and “misleading.”

In an official response, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) stated, “We have seen an official statement by the Pakistan Army seeking to blame India for the attack in Waziristan on 28 June. We reject this statement with the contempt it deserves.”

“This is yet another effort to externalize Pakistan’s internal problems,” said a senior government source, adding that such rhetoric is neither new nor credible.

India has consistently maintained that Pakistan should focus on tackling terrorism within its own borders rather than making unfounded accusations against its neighbors.

Pakistan Suicide Bomber Kills 13 Soldiers in Waziristan

India’s statement came in response to an official communication from the Pakistani military, issued shortly after a deadly suicide bombing in North Waziristan. In that incident, a suicide attacker rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into a military convoy, killing at least 13 Pakistani soldiers.

“A suicide bomber rammed an explosive-laden vehicle into a military convoy. The blast killed 13 soldiers, injured 10 army personnel and 19 civilians,” a local government official said.

The attack was claimed by the suicide bomber unit of the Hafiz Gul Bahadur group, a faction affiliated with the Pakistani Taliban.

Since the Taliban’s return to power in Kabul in 2021, Pakistan has seen a significant surge in violence along its border with Afghanistan. Islamabad has accused Kabul of allowing militants to use Afghan territory to launch attacks inside Pakistan, an allegation the Taliban has consistently denied.

The exchange highlights growing strain in India-Pakistan relations, especially as terrorism and cross-border accusations continue to cloud diplomatic engagement. Unless Pakistan takes credible steps to curb militancy within its territory, such incidents will only deepen mistrust and hinder prospects for regional stability.